Civil rights groups condemn ‘Soul Fest’ concerts at Georgia park with giant Confederate carving

ATLANTA (AP) — Civil rights groups are criticizing a concert series with Black performers dubbed “Soul Fest” that is being held at a Georgia park with a giant carving of Confederate leaders. Stone Mountain Park just outside Atlanta is where the Ku Klux Klan marked its rebirth in 1915. Its colossal, mountainside sculpture of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson is the largest Confederate monument ever crafted. Atlanta NAACP President Richard Rose said the Soul Fest” concert series is a way to sanitize the hateful message of the park. Emails to the park and its management company, Thrive Attractions, were not immediately returned.